By Fairy Means or Foul

A Starfig Investigations Novel

By: Meghan Maslow

Narrated by: Greg Boudreaux

Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

The last thing half-dragon, half-fairy private investigator Twig Starfig wants to do is retrieve a stolen enchanted horn from a treacherous fae, but there's no denying the dazzlingly gorgeous unicorn who asks Twig to do just that. Literally, no denying, because compelling the reluctant detective is all part of a unicorn's seductive magic.

To add to his woes, Twig is saddled with the unicorn's cheeky indentured servant, Quinn Broomsparkle. Dragons are supposed to want to eat humans, but Twig's half-dragon side only wants to gobble up Quinn in a more personal way. Making matters worse, it's obvious the smokin' hot but untrustworthy sidekick is hiding something. Something big. And not what's in his trousers. In the PI business, that means trouble with a capital Q.

Throw in gads of zombies, a creepy ghost pirate ship, a malfunctioning magic carpet, and Twig's overbearing fairy father's demands to live up to the illustrious Starfig name. Naturally, an old but abiding enemy chooses this time to resurface, too. Those inconveniences Twig can handle. The realization he's falling for a human who isn't free to return his affections and whose life may hang on the success of his latest case?

Not so much.

©2017 Meghan Maslow (P)2022 Meghan Maslow

That was...weird. Fun, but weird.

This was...well, I already said weird, didn't I? I feel like the story can't really decide if it wants to be whimsical or serious. It was kind of like a children's book, except the characters had sex.

If you want a gritty urban fantasy detective story, this isn't the book for you. If you want a slightly surreal road trip with ghost parrots, tea drinking giants, zombie armies and tiny fairy politicians, then this is definitely the book you're looking for. It was an entertaining enough listen with a competent reader and a very satisfying end.

A word of warning: there are allusions to a character having been raped in the past, as well as the overhanging threat of him being raped again. There is also some sexual mind control happening.

Whimsical, A Bit Too Fairy, But Fun

The 'rainbows and sparkles' and totally gay names were a bit over the top for me. Once I got passed that distraction, I enjoyed the story. It was creative, whimsical and fun.

Greg Boudreaux did a great job. All in all a good listen.

Excellent!

I loved the book, but the narration took this to another level! This is such a great story that I didn't think could get any better. Greg Tremblay proved me wrong. For me, he made it perfect. I loved every minute of listening (even going over parts). I believed in every character, and he managed to knock Twig from being my favourite- now Bill 😈is my favourite character. I really hope if this becomes a series Bill gets his own story, but NOT with the odious Bransome 😠
An excellent performance!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!!

After reading some of the reviews I had mixed feelings about the book. But knowing the narrator I was sure that I would enjoy it. I did very much. In another review someone said they thought that the names of the characters were a little strange. Well it is fantasy so you’re talking about fairies and dragons and wizards so it’s part of the charm of the book. This book made me laugh and made me a little sad and gave me a little hope for love. The adventures were great the storyline was great and as I said above I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I had a very long drive ahead of me today, so started about an hour in and as I climbed into my hotel bed, finished the book. 👍🏻👍🏻
I always Enjoy Greg’s narrations! He brings the characters to life!

FUN !

This was a "funtastic" story, made even better by the narrator's brilliant and comedic portrayals.

A pleasant surprise

I can confirm that this is an m/m story and despite the description making it sound like a dark-bdsm/slave romance (which kept me from getting it at first) it is actually the opposite; and even though there are a couple sex scenes, that is not the focus of the book.

This book can be summarized as: an m/m fantasy version of the Dresden Files (except, the main character is "Not" a wizard).

I LOVE IT.

Fun and exciting!

This book was very entertaining. I enjoyed all of the characters and the universe. It was easy to get sucked in and once I started I couldn't stop.

Fun, Amazing Story

Great story with many LOL moments and Greg provides a masterful narration. Can’t wait to listen to the next in this series!

silly and cute

I did enjoy this book, and the silliness of it was part of what I liked, however I wish the romance was a bit more fleshed out. I didn't like how they were fighting over stuff that could have been easily resolved by talking. Narration excellent though, as always 👌

Perfect

So funny I laughed out loud. So sweet, I smiled and awed. So adventurous, I cringed. To me, this was perfect. I'm certain I'll listen to the whole thing again like my favorite movie. Thanks for this one. Narrator and author? Plot? Perfect.

good fun

I can't quite find the right words to describe this one. All in all I really enjoyed this one. If you are not a fan of the m/m slave trope. This is not for you! However there are no consent issues between Quinn and Twig as they are rather sweet with each other.
Aso the audiobook made me laugh several times out loud in public and blush at other scenes. Greg Boudreaux's voice was perfect through it all!

Marvellous and magical

Just finished listening and I can’t rate this book high enough. I love fantasy stories and this one ticks all the boxes for me. Trodden down hero, magic, magical creatures and wonderful world building. Such a fun story I’m looking forward to reading more in the series.
What a master of narration Greg Boudreaux is.
He has such a terrific range of voices for the various characters including an officious fairy. A complete joy to listen to.

Trust me, its worth it

Downloaded as a bit of fun and couldn't be more impressed. fun, well-rounded, compelling.

Wonderful fairytale with perfect narration!

What a wonderful adventure in the world of dragons, wizards, unicorns, demons and whatnot! The narration is perfect Every creature has unique voice, I especially love the accent of Bill the Demon! This book has very unique worldbuilding with evil unicorns and sophisticated demons! I laughed out loud several times.

Very Enjoyable

The story and characters  are engaging and the narrator has very distinctive voices for each character, always a plus for me.

Amazing

Hands up this was one of the BEST listens of the year. I haven't laughed so much at a book in a long time. The story is fast paced, the characters are witty and the feel of the book is so good. But what topped it off was Greg Boudreaux. His narration was just fantastic, a massive array of voices, intimations spot on and he did all of the extras that many narrators miss, he sighed and laughed and shouted and well, he does a stand up job. If you want a funny feel good love story this is it.

Good fun

This was a light fun read with lots of fantastic spark, snark and warmth. I really liked Twig! He was a grump with a huge heart and I have a soft spot for those :-) There is a lot of fun side caracters that I look forward to reading more about in the next book.
My one hang-up was that a lot of trouble could have been awoided if Twig and Quinn would have just talked. Just sat down and talked instead of always assuming that they knew best. I know that this is to drive the plot along I’m just nok a fan.
Gregs narration is as always spot on. He is so good at differentiating the different voices that you are never in doubt about who is saying what. Always a mayor plus when he is the narrator!
Overall well worth a credit :-)

Surprisingly Great!

This is an absolute gem 💎
It’s witty, funny, whimsical and downright hot and horny.
I highly recommend this if you’re looking for something different to the norm of this genre of audiobook.
Thoroughly enjoyed and can’t wait to hear more from Starfig Investigations!

Entertainment fantasys

Ahould keep you amused all the way through with fairys dragons and others in the rantasy worlds enjoy the fun.

Enjoyed it

By Fairy Means or Foul was refreshingly different than anything I’ve ever read before.

Twig is half fairy and half dragon - the first question I asked myself, is how the hell did a small fairy mate with a dragon? It made me giggle just thinking about it.

Whenever, the unicorn made an appearance, every colourful word under the sun, came out of my mouth. I wanted to smack him repeatedly and that probably wouldn’t have been enough to appease me. The unicorn was devious, manipulative and horrible.

Quinn’s fiery spirit made him perfect to go head to head with Twig. Sensible wasn’t Quinn’s middle name: he went out of his way to go on an adventure of a lifetime despite, Twig’s grumbling and complaints.

On the surface, Quinn and Twig seemed like an unlikely match. However, as the walls to their hearts slowly came down: they soon discover that two incomplete beings can be whole together.

Quinn and Twig had a beautiful spark; it sizzled and burned throughout their adventure. The heat level was low but the characters and their banter more than made up for it.

Fantastic book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The secondary characters were just as funny/snarky and made the whole book come alive.

Narrator’s performance was fantastic, he made the characters come alive.